UK Disposable Income Plunges Most In 25 Years

Having miraculously avoided the triple-dip recession and amid a bubbling housing (and stock) market, the average household in the UK is not doing so great. While this may not come as a surprise to many that these two things can be so disconnected, it is simply stunning that UK Disposable Income collapsed in Q1 by its fastest rate in 25 years to its lowest level in almost 8 years.

With BoE's Mervyn King on his way out proclaiming that the worst is behind them and "recovery is in sight," perhaps it is Sainsbury's CEO's comments that are most prophetic "It’s unrealistic [for politicians] to paint a picture which is not the reality that consumers are currently experiencing," he said, adding "nobody should be planning their business today if they're customer-facing on an expectation that consumers have extra money to spend."

This is my pick for the currency that needs to go "puff". It's a hollow economy, or the ghost of an economy, or a joke called an economy. The currency is hugely over-valued; probably because of the "apparent wealth" from the machinations of the "City"; aka the magic square mile. Perfect example of the "dead man walking".

The currency would be over-valued at par with the "dollar"; as it is it's over 1.50; I'm short from 1.56$ and I'll just maintain that until the market takes me out on a zero loss stop; or it finally falls apart. Great example of what you do with "momentum"; and in this case the momentum is left over from the 19th. Century ! The once great Britain, now an impoverished Island.

Just through my job I know some old folk who can either heat their homes or eat. Thats putting it in harsh terms and cutting the bullshit but true. I personaly know some old folk who use their bus pass all day riding buses to keep warm so they have enough left to buy food for themselves.

And this is 2013? While the cunt fuckers who caused this swan about saying what you said eh? All in this together are we?

I am ashamed of this country mate. Disgusted we have been reduced so far for what? For bankers and politicians?

I am burning with rage what these sons of bitches are doing to the whole country while they get away scott free with no punishment for outrageous and ruinatious behaviour.

I turned my heating on for a total of about 10 hours last winter, and I live in Scotland.

I know a lot of people who are in full time work and earning buttons - £12-13K a year - who are simply out of fucking options at this point (but hey that's fresh meat for those parasitic cunts Wonga et al eh?).

The saddest part of it all is that almost none of these poor fuckers can join the dots and see how and why they have been deliberatley shafted by a power system that is determined to extract every last fucking ounce of wealth that the poor ever accumulate.

Feudalism might be an improvement. Don't forget to vote for Independence. The Scots are the "designated poor" as far as the rulers in London are concerned. At one time you could just gather everyone together and march south with your swords and pikes; alas, no more. There's a lot you can do as an independent nation that you cannot do as a member of the clusterfuck.

At this stage in the game I'm not sure if independence really means anything. I have no doubts whatsoever that had something analogous to the 2008 crisis happened in an independent Scotland, the political class would have bailed out the banks and thrown the people to the fucking wolves.

I absolutely detest almost everything the British state stands for but I fear that an independent Scotland would turn itself into a corporate bordello as Ireland did, and I'm sure the Dork of Cork can tell everyone how that turned out.

It has nothing to with a contrarian attitude towards the English. I just cannot see how it makes sense to assert national sovereignty whilst handing over control of monetary policy to a foreign central bank.

If the only choice on the table here is financial catastrophe sooner (Euro) or later (GBP), then the entire independence excercise is a waste of time.

For what it's worth. I don't think there's any chance of a Yes vote. 90% of people I have spoken to simply don't care either way.

35 years ago Britain was an industrial powerhouse. Now it gets its GDP from people spending their 1000% Wonga loans in Sainsburys. Things are looking up though. The double dip never happened and cheap government backed mortgages will set off a new housing boom and everybody will be rich again.

35Yrs ago: Thatcher (the spawn of Satan) started to dismantle engineering and manufacturing in the UK, for the new industry of financial services. The rest is history. Ther UK is fucked full stop. The worst of this depression has yet to visit Britain.

I think you might want to change that to £1.39 a litre, and remember a US gallon is smaller than an Imperial gallon. 1 UK gallon = 4.55 litres therefore Petrol in the UK is typically £6.32 a gallon x 0.832= £5.26 US equivalent which at current exchange rate of $1.52 to £1 = $8 per US gallon equivalent.

Your posts are very valuable. Very interesting numbers for the Steam Coal. As a Scot I'm not exactly crying big tears for the Imperialist Bastards; but they will put their citizens thru hell playing pretend.

Easy to say why eveything from food, train tickets to energy costs inflating at <7% a year for at least the last 5 years will always reduce disposable income, the politicos couldn't give a shit though tax is paid on everything, expect a 2%+ vat increase after the next election.

Yesterday in the UK we had a whole lecture on how well it is going? Really. The collapse in disposable income not surprised. This though, everybody missed it ha,ha and noone said a word.

The UK has played the QE card, bail out the banks, etc. etc. Reckon this is no more than more QE myself but of course NOT CALLED QE! Is sort of got lost in the smoke and mirrors of yesterday all 70 billion pounds worth of it.

So true, but it is deliberate. Osborne wanted to do a Geoffrey Howe 1980 Induced Recession because he had no idea about what was going on. This is a complete disaster that has run out of control and is basically irreversible as it is propped up by 0.5% funding which exceeds the growth in the economy